World of Anthros
by Smooth Flying
Summary: ((AKA Smooth Flying's writing practice))The Eeveelutions arrive at a new strange land.
1. General Confusion

**A/N: Sooo yeah this is pretty much me practising character development and all that. ^^; Nothing much will actually happen in this story, so if you were looking for something that's action-packed and all that, I guess you'll be disappointed. But hey, if you'd like to help me, drop a review!**

 **What's that? Why are they furries? Errrrr...why not, I guess? :P**

RedRobin tracked through the trees, muttering under his breath. Slung across his hip was a bag of arrows and he carried his bow. He didn't want to be caught unprepared. If he was ambushed, he could always send a few of arrows flying with a draw of his bowstring, though they were of the magical variety.

Right now was the height of summer and though the forest was brimming with creatures and berries he could gather, he wasn't here to sightsee, oh no.

"Ugh! Curse those two!" He grumbled, mimicking their words in a high pitched voice. "If you're so enthusiastic, why don't you patrol the forest yourself? Some friends they are…" he sighed, returning to his normal voice.

He stopped at a wooden log and sat down on it, flicking his red tail out of the way of a few insects attempting to nest in it. Yes, he would take a little break, then keep on going.

Sure, maybe it was foolish of him to go patrolling alone, but then again it was harder for any enemies to spot him, if any. There weren't any enemies nowadays as all the kingdoms were on friendly terms. If RedRobin spotted someone of a different species, he didn't have any reason to suspect anything unless said someone was doing something suspicious.

Speaking of which…

There came a rustling in the bushes. Ears pricked, he tuned in to what seemed like squabbling.

"Owwww! You hit my eye!"

"Sooorrryyyy!"

Well, crap. RedRobin readied his bow. His mind went through the process that had been emblazoned in his mind since he joined the army. First to determine what kind of species the possible attackers were.

"Where the fuck are we?"

Oops. Three attackers? He couldn't possibly take on that many. Should he run back for help or-?

Hey wait, those supposed ambushers weren't even trying to keep quiet and had no idea where they were. These probably weren't spies or anything, but rather lost travellers.

But it could still be a trick…

RedRobin quietly climbed the tree, choosing not to fly in case the noise alerted the strangers. Luckily, they were too busy bickering amongst themselves in those bushes. Yes, there were definitely more than at least five of them now.

RedRobin drew one arrow out of his belt quiver. Arming his bow, he closed one eye and shot at the area above the bushes.

And there was instant panic.

"AAAAAAHHHHH OH MY SHIT WHAT WAS THAT?" One howled.

"Guys! I think we're under attack of this thing!"

With that, eight heads rose up of the bushes, albeit unsteadily, holding onto various plants for support.

RedRobin watched from his vantage point, hoping his red mane wouldn't give him away. At least his coat and clothes were dark colours.

A blue one with fins on her head examined the arrow lodged in the tree trunk. "is this some kind of Pin Missile…?" She looked over her shoulder. "Claire, do you know what this is?"

RedRobin took the chance to observe them. He hadn't seen these species before, but then again, he had never gone out of the kingdom, so he wasn't qualified to judge. One thing they all had in common was their huge, pricked, foxlike ears and their canine appearance. But regular canines weren't as...colourful to say the least. Their pelt colours included everything from a natural beige colour to a bright shocking yellow.

Taking a look at their clothing, he thought that this was probably what Blizzard meant by 'plain'. Their clothes weren't shabby, but not exactly elegant either, best described as 'practical'. All of them were wearing a jacket and trousers that were varying shades of brown. Or maybe it was the light that caused the difference in colours.

There were eight of them, but he noticed that the quieter ones just sat down and stared at them. Occasionally, the creature with fur a black as midnight and yellow rings on his arms and forehead would smirk, elbowing the canine-like individual with a leaf. She looked away uncomfortably while he burst out in raucous laughter.

The named Claire looked at the arrow with a frown gracing her features. She pulled the pointy thing out of the tree bark and sat on the ground to examine it.

She pressed down on it, hit it, attempted to break it, and even lick it. "No. Too hard to be a Pin Missile." She made a face. "It's not too pleasant to taste either. It tastes like blood...doesn't break easily...shiny...smooth…"

Claire's purple eyes widened. "Aha! I think it's metal! You know, the thing that door handles are made of?" Spotting the blue-furred whatsit's quirked eyebrow, she hastily provided an explanation.

"That's even worse!" screamed a yellow male overdramatically, the owner of the same loud voice before. Judging by his bristling yellow fur and white collar, maybe he really was suffering a panic attack. "Door handles have turned alive and are trying to kill us!"

A nearby fiery orange whatsthespecies smacked his face. "Flash, you fucking idiot, door handles aren't alive! They can't attack us!"

"Language, please!" The blue fish girl attempted to reprimand her, only for the orange female to raise her hand and turn her face away. "No," she said flatly.

"So are zombies, and they can!" Flash pointed out, ignoring the exchange. "What if these are zombie door handles? That would explain the sharpness!"

RedRobin was thinking. On one hand, Claire was smart enough to identify metal. On the other, they had never even seen an arrow before and had even compared it to, of all things, a door handle. Heh, that was...pretty funny. He chuckled a bit before realising his mistake.

"It seems we have company." Ice blue eyes stared up at him from her sitting position on the ground far down. "Good afternoon."

RedRobin looked down nervously. He had to work better on his stealth skills. In his experience, those particularly strict superiors were the only ones who looked like this: cold, blank, expressionless. He hoped that she wouldn't suddenly pull out something and stab him with it. He sighed inwardly. Oh well, he had to confront these strangers sometime, right? Maybe it would have been wiser to fetch some others, but it was too late for that now.

Claire looked between the mysterious Pegasus up in the trees and back to the arrow in her paws. "Did you generate this?" she wondered. "What is this?"

RedRobin looked down, his gaze wary. "...a warning." He perched on the branch, raising his bow before pulling his bowstring back. A basic magic arrow appeared, decent range and not too much damage, useful for scaring off offending (insert species here). "You're trespassing."


	2. Introductions

Rani frowned in concentration. She didn't even know what was going on! First they had been stumbling along yet more wild tall grass, and then...poof. They were here.

Fern 'eeped' and hid behind the ice-blue female. The leaf on the top of her head curled inwards, hiding part of her pale-furred face. "Fractal! Protect me…" she whimpered.

"Why is it always her and not me? I'm older than her and definitely more skilled!" Flare, who was beside Fractal complained. Obviously, she was still miffed that Fern preferred Fractal over her.

Fractal stared at her, unamused. "It isn't the time to be debating about this, dear sister." She looked up into the trees, standing on her hind legs and clutching a nearby tree's thick trunk for support.

"Hey! You must be a door handle god! That must be why you can shoot door handles with that cool gizmo of yours! Oh yeah, and don't kill me!" Flash begged, crouching. He flattened his ears against his head, attempting to look as nonthreatening as possible.

The creature up in the trees kept the pointed end of the magic-rod-thing pointed at them, but his penetrating green gaze seemed to falter a little. "Well, I don't want to, but please be on your way back to your kingdom before a patrol comes. You'll be in big trouble then. Suspicious behaviour is an actual reason to question you at arrowpoint."

Rani crouched down beside Flash, curling her long fish tail around her. "Please! We don't have anywhere to go to!" she explained. "We don't mean any harm!"

"Hey! What do you mean by suspicious behaviour?" Flare yelled up the tree. "If anything, you're the one being suspicious! Who hides in trees and shoots door handles at random people?"

"Flare," Sapphire growled through her teeth. "You might think this whole living thing is overrated, but I for one want to survive!"

"Oh, you know what you are?" Flare ignored her sister and instead continued with her taunting. "A dirty coward, that's what you are! Why don't you stop hiding and come down and fight?! Mmph!" Rani quickly covered her sister's mouth with her tail.

While Flare choked and sputtered and complained, "Tastes like fish guts!", Rani attempted to make peace with the...Pokémon? What was he, assuming he wasn't genderless? He was shrouded in the shadow of the tree, but she could clearly pick out a crimson pelt and tail, and he looked vaguely Ponyta-like, if Ponyta had dark pelts.

"Hello," she started cautiously, flattening herself on the ground. "We aren't here to cause trouble. We just got here and we don't know where we are." _That was it, Rani. Just keep talking and hopefully convince him._ "Please let us go! We'll try not to cause trouble!"

At this, she gave Flare a pleading gaze. The Fire-type pointedly ignored this. With a loud 'hmph!', she flicked her tail at Rani in defiance. Luckily, Rani was a Vaporeon, and she was spared a free burn.

The Pokémonish thing paused for a while before pointing his weapon upwards and letting go of the string.

Crap. Rani closed her eyes and waiting for it to shoot her, placing her paws over her head. At least, she thought they were paws. They were much longer and dexterous, and she found she could actually grasp her head-fin in them.

After a few seconds of waiting and nothing happened, she slowly opened her eyes to see the stranger in front of her. Her eyes widened and she started in fear, but the creature placed his weapon on the floor and held up his hands after flexing his left arm. That item must be very heavy, Rani thought.

"I'm not going to shoot you," he added for good measure.

Clairvoyance still looked wary, but everyone else brightened up and pricked their ears up. Even Fractal closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief, visibly relaxing.

Flash in particular was especially grateful, flinging himself to the creature's feet. "Thanks, God of Door Handles! You're a pretty cool guy, huh? Much better than all those other Pokémon! They were all like 'RAWR' and 'HISS' and 'THIS IS MY BERRY YOU DAMN INVADER' and boom! Out I go, kicked out by the backside!" he complained.

Nightlight snickered. "Still sore about that, I see. Literally."

Flash shrugged. "Well, to be fair, it WAS theirs. I just didn't think they'd be so mean! I didn't even know it was theirs!"

He caressed the creature's tail as though it was made of holy essence. "Wow, it's so smooth! How much conditioner do you use? Hey, can I call you by a nickname? What's your name?"

Rani gave the creature an apologetic look. Flash had no sense of personal space, she knew. She had been born hours after Flash, and her earliest fuzzy memories were of Flash happily crawling into her Pokémon bed beside her and licking her long brown ears.

Said creature flicked his tail out of Flash's reach, looking uncomfortable. "My name is RedRobin. It's...nice to meet you." He hesitated, looking lost, before he stuck out his hand to Flash.

Flash looked at it, then back to RedRobin's unsure expression, then to Rani, then to Claire, then back to the hand again when he realised that they were just as confused. "Uh. What do you want me to do? There's no Poképuff!"

"What? Um, you know, take it. Shake it, that sort of thing." The stranger looked like he was regretting this heavily. He looked down at the ground, scuffing his boots.

"Flash. Move." Upon sensing RedRobin's increasingly uncomfortable feelings, Shine stumbled forward, still unsure on her two new legs. She tugged at Flash's tunic sleeve, trying to get him to budge.

"Hey, you didn't say please! How rude!" Flash complained, but from his smile Rani could tell he was joking. He poked Shine, letting out a little electric shock, and moved to the side.

Shine pouted at him, then turned her blue eyes on RedRobin. She paused for a while, before finally greeting him with, "Nice to meet you, RedRobin. My name is Shine. The one who just talked to you is Flash. He's an Electric-type, so he's always so energetic and the like. Rani is the one who was telling you to not shoot us. The hot-headed one is Flare. Literally, she's a Fire-type." She pointed to each one of her siblings in turn.

Rani smiled as she was mentioned, hoping to seem welcoming. It seemed to work, as RedRobin returned it with a small smile of his own and his expression becoming less bashful.

"Actually, Flash has been like that since he was an Eevee," Fractal pointed out. "His typing has only influenced it more."

"Man, are you or Claire the smart one? Make up your mind!" Nightlight deadpanned. "Oh wait, it has to be Fractal. Claire doesn't have any common sense!"

"That one there's...Nightlight." Shine said his name with slight distaste, eyes narrowed. Pointing over to Clairvoyance, a bristling, glaring ball of fur, she commented, "Don't mind him, Claire. He'll grow out of it. Someday. He's an Umbreon after all. It's only a matter of time before he becomes a Fractal clone."

"You wish!" he retorted. Rani flicked her tail at him, a silent order to stop talking. Nightlight shut up, but his mischievous grin dipped upside down and his crimson eyes narrowed in rebellion.

"...okay," RedRobin muttered. He nodded to Nightlight, but from the slight glint in his eyes Rani could tell that her little brother hadn't made the best of impressions.

Shine continued on, very happy to leave the subject of Nightlight behind. "Alright, so you probably know who Clairvoyance, a.k.a Claire, and Fractal is. That just leaves...Fern? Fern, where are you?" Shine looked left and right worriedly, hoping to spot a telltale quivering leaf.

Fractal paused, blue eyes glittering, before kneeling down and turning around. Fern had decided to hide behind her most trusted sister again, Rani guessed. She could understand why. Fern had hatched minutes after Fractal and Flare.

Flare as a newborn Eevee had growled at her and took one entire cushion for herself. Frightened, Fern had cried out and shuffled away on the couch towards the also-newly-born Fractal. Instead of pushing Fern away, she simply let Fern press into her fluffy collar in silence. From then on, she had sort of viewed Fractal as her safety blanket. If the Ice-type minded it, she didn't say.

Now, she muttered something soothing under her breath to Fern. Finally, Fern nodded resolutely and let Fractal move away.

"Just follow Shine's example," Fractal encouraged her. RedRobin didn't rush her, either. From his own encouraging smile, Rani sensed that he understood the feeling of talking to complete strangers. He would let her take all the time that was needed.

Fern took a deep breath, before averting her eyes while saying, "I'm Fern. Hi, RedRobin." She gave a tiny wave.

Fractal gently nuzzled her. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Was that a small grin on her stoic face?

RedRobin awkwardly looked away and turned to Shine. "So what are you doing here? I don't think I've seen any of your kind around here."

Shine shrugged. "Arceus knows."

"Arceus is a troll," Flash complained.

"...what?" RedRobin shook his head, putting a hand to his forehead. "Alright, nevermind. You said you didn't have a place to stay, correct? How about I bring you back to the city? There are inns there. We'll figure out what to do then."


	3. Claire should be renamed Telepathy

Now, RedRobin thought, these strangers were either really good actors, or they were telling the truth.

Because, as he strode off to his right, fully expecting them to follow him, he turned his head to find that they were crawling around rather degradingly on all fours.

Yeah, probably no real threat here.

"Why are you crawling?" he questioned wearily. "Walk. Like me." Just in case that wasn't clear enough, he gestured to his legs. "Relax. Nothing will hit your head."

"Well, you see, there's a tiny problem," Rani fidgeted nervously from where she was kneeling on the grass, fiddling with her fingers. "We can't really balance. We're used to walking around on all four of our paws."

RedRobin was beginning to believe that they really were lost helpless individuals that had no idea what was happening, but being cautious was always a good thing.

He supposed he could teach them how to walk. It would get them to the city quicker and if they really were that inept at such a basic skill, then it would be some time before they learnt how to sneak around stealthily.

"We've tried it before, but we can't go past five seconds before having to go back on all fours," Clairvoyance added, purple eyes shining, forked tail twitching. "Maybe we can try it in this form? We're more human-like now. Maybe we can stand like them, too," she wondered.

RedRobin looked at her for a second before shaking his head. "Okay, I guess you can try it now if you want to." Maybe he ought to just tune out from their chatter. They weren't from around here and many of their terms were unfamilliar, foreign-sounding.

"Alright. Thanks for waiting for us!" Rani said, biting her lip. Scanning her siblings, she added sheepishly, "This might take a while. Ummm..."

She grabbed the arm of Clairvoyance, the nearest sibling, and slowly helped both stand up to her full height. "Try using your tail to support yourself," she suggested

"Flash doesn't have a tail," Nightlight pointed out, grinning infuriatingly and trying to piss Flash off. RedRobin gulped as he looked at the numerous sharp canines.

"I know, right! My tail is just spikes on my butt!" Flash complained and completely missed his brother's intent. He hugged his knees and looked Nightlight up and down, his dark gaze settling on the latter's cylindrical tail. RedRobin blinked and rubbed his eyes. Was that golden marking...glowing in this dim light?

"Say, what's it like having a tail?" Flash stared at the tail with a glowing ring curiously. "Is it heavy? Annoying? Does it hurt when you whack it against stuff? How is that thing even poking out of your pants?"

Nightlight swatted his hand at Flash as though he was an annoying insect. "You're more annoying than any such tail in existence!"

Flash caught RedRobin looking at them, pointed at Nightlight with his thumb and shrugged before giving the Pegasus a hopeful look. "Hey, would you tell me what it's like to have a big fluffy tail?"

RedRobin was about to reply with something like "Natural-feeling" when Rani finished helping Clairvoyance and came over to them. "Want to try?" she asked, voice wavering slightly as her legs wobbled, unused to carrying such weight.

"It's too tiring! I don't want to do it!" Flash grumbled. Crossing his arms, he stuck his red tongue out at Rani.

Rani sighed and turned to Nightlight. "What about you?"

Nightlight looked less than impressed. "Sis,you can't even walk on two paws yourself! Help us? Get real!"

Fractal just ignored them all and resumed trying to support Fern as well as herself. Shine tore her gaze away from her annoying older brother and wrapped her ribbons around a tree. Fractal quietly observed the pink-and-white sister before deciding she needed help and stuck her left paw out, her right arm still wrapped around Fern's shoulder.

All the while, RedRobin sat down and examined his arrows, and then his bow, waiting for them to finish their bickering and whining. They truly had no idea how to even balance on two paws. Well, no matter. He wouldn't be the one to judge them. What was normal for his own kind probably wasn't how these strangers functioned.

Still though, he was keeping an eye, or ear in this case, on them, just to make sure they wouldn't get themselves into even more trouble. Yes, they were all within earshot. Arguing loudly, too, so it wasn't very hard to gauge their positions.

Eventually all of them decided on forming some sort of conga line, with the exception of Flash at the back pulling onto Flare's huge fluffy tail. Flare made a disgusted face and jerked her tail sharply, making Flash lose his grip.

"Stand up, you lazy ass. You're the oldest out of all of us! Set an example!" She grumbled.

"Language, Flare," Fractal reminded her in a monotone, as if it was just something she said regularly and she didn't even care anymore. RedRobin got the feeling that this was most likely the case.

Flash gave a 'hmph, Ran's the leader', but stood up anyway and put his paws on his sister's shoulder.

RedRobin flicked his tail. "Are you done?"

"Yeah! Congaa!" Flash cheered.

He'd take that as a yes. Spinning around, RedRobin walked off in the direction of Itgait.

Of course, he just had to run into more problems.

"Ran-Ran! Turn left!" Flash hollered from the back so loudly, birds flew into the air, Rani startled, and RedRobin flicked his ears to get rid of the buzzing noise.

"Flash, you idiot, that's right!" Flare snapped, spanking one of his legs with one flick of her very hot tail. Flash winced as a burn mark opened up in his trousers.

"Ran-Ran's a terrible nickname, and so is Ran!" Shine exclaimed. "Maybe something like Rain would be better."

"I don't mind it," Rani said cautiously, wanting to avoid igniting another squabble among her siblings.

"Come on, Rani, don't let Flash walk all over you. He acts like an Eevee, but he never gets punished! But I do!" Nightlight grumbled.

"That's because he's older than Rani and she can't do anything anyway, what with type disadvantages and all that," Clairvoyance shrugged.

"Shine, look! A beetle! Isn't it pretty?" Fern beamed as she pointed it out to her sister.

"Ew! A bug!" Clairvoyance screamed, then blasted it off the face of the earth with what seemed to RedRobin to be blue-coloured blasts of light.

Apart from Fractal, whose face betrayed nothing, everyone stared at the steaming pile of bugsquish in shock. Fern's eyes started to water.

RedRobin resisted the urge to slam his head against the nearest tree. They were getting nowhere! Well, he had found one thing out: They were of the mage archetype. So far, he only knew...what was her name? Claire? He only knew her powers, and that included blasting bugs to hell and back.

But just now, that one called Flare had burnt through Flash's trousers, so she had to have fire powers. Her name tipped that off as well.

Said young male had rid himself of his brown tunic and was currently fanning his leg with it, all while hopping to and fro screaming "Hot, hot, hot!" and "Flare, you murdered my leg!"

"Oh, calm your tits, big brother," his sister rolled her eyes. "It's not like a little Ember will OHKO you."

Also, they appeared to be extremely durable to each other's magic.

"Guys, Red is totally observing us like a total stalker."

Oops. He had been caught staring.

"My apologies," he said aloud.

"Dude, you're a total yandere!" Flash continued, pointing accusingly at RedRobin and glaring. "Well, ha-ha, joke's on you! I found you out, so you can't murder anyone while I'm around!"

"...what?" Oh, forget understanding Flash altogether, the guy made no sense at all.

"Don't play dumb!" Flash growled and prepared to charge.

"Oh, stop it, Flash," a blue aura surrounded him and he was suddenly suspended there. No matter how much he tried to struggle, he couldn't get any closer to RedRobin. Finally, he gave up.

Clairvoyance sighed, releasing him from her psychic prison. "Not only are you trying to do a Volt Tackle, which is proven to be impossible if you're not part of the Pikachu family, but you're trying to Volt Tackle an innocent...winged-Ponyta-like-guy." She looked over to RedRobin. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you are."

"A pegasus," he confirmed. Whatever a Ponyta or a yandere was. Well, it wasn't his place to ask.

"Pegasus," Clairvoyance repeated. A spark of interest flickered in her dark eyes before she look back at her brother with a stern gaze. "Alright, let's move on. RedRobin here has more important things to do then to entertain us all day. Now march"

Finally someone seemed to get it! Then he started as Clairvoyance gave him a smile and said, "I know."

"How do you know that?" Flash asked, obviously thinking she was talking to him. He walked forward obediently anyway, but flicked his large yellow ear at her to show his interest.

"You haven't heard him talking to himself all this time?"

RedRobin felt a jolt go through him that was sheer embarrassment. He paused for a while before looking away and muttering, "Did I say something? I'm sorry. You must have felt very awkward."

The remaining six looked at each other, then back at Clairvoyance. "Uh, no, sis. He didn't say anything."

"It's finally happened, sis! Those psychic powers you have have finally driven you insane!" Nightlight looked horrified, running around in circles and waving his paws about. Of course, this didn't do him much good. He lasted for all of five seconds before falling flat on his face.

Flare smirked, but she still held out her paw. Nightlight growled at her before hauling himself up with the help of a tree.

"If I really was insane, I wouldn't still be standing here completely unfettered," Clairvoyance said calmly, deciding to ignore Nightlight's antics. "This just shows how much Dark-types like you don't know about Psychic-types. Absolutely zero. Zero, zero, zero, zero, zero-"

RedRobin hesitated before tapping her on the shoulder. Did she like that? Did she mind that? He hoped she didn't. He didn't want her to suddenly attack. "May I ask what you heard me 'saying'?"

Clairvoyance shrugged. "Something something magic blah blah blah threats. Just so you know, no, we're not actually planning anything, and I'm not going to attack you."

Okay, so they weren't going to attack him. Maybe he'd better walk at the back though, just in case-

Clairvoyance gave a 'urgh' and stomped her foot childishly. "Why won't you believe me? I know you're right in not trusting strangers, but at least don't say it in front of me!"

"Sis, he didn't say anything!" Flash protested, frowning. "Stop accusing other pegasuses of what they didn't do!"

Well, Flash sure trusted whoever wasn't a 'yandere' easily and was actually serious for once. It was also pegasi, not pegasuses, but he supposed that bringing up such things when Flash was unusually serious was probably not a good idea.

"He's not angry, don't worry," Clairvoyance said, purple eyes flicking over to RedRobin.

Flash made a strangling motion with his paws. "Why do you keep doing that? No one's saying anything!"

The other six looked at each other bewilderedly.

"Yes, he did," Clairvoyance argued. "He was afraid that you'd snap at him or something if he corrected your grammar since you weren't joking around for once!"

"Claire, we didn't hear anything either," Rani spoke up, now looking actually worried.

"There're voices inside her head!" Nightlight's crimson eyes were wide. RedRobin decided to take his mind off the weirdness that was happening by noticing how Nightlight was the only one of the strangers to have pupils in his eyes.

Clairvoyance folded her arms and growled. "No, Flare, I don't need to go to the Pokémon center! I'm pretty sure there aren't any here and anyway, there's nothing wrong with me!"

"Flare, that's a reasonable suggestion, but maybe I wasn't paying attention to you. It probably drifted right past my ears," Rani suggested.

Flare looked at Clairvoyance as though she were a particularly infuriating puzzle. "Yeah, sure, sis, if you say so. Except, you know, I never voiced that thought?"

Thoughts. RedRobin looked at Clairvoyance. "Hey, I'm just gonna throw this out there-" Please don't judge me for it! he added mentally. "Um, do you think you're mind-reading?"


	4. Telepathy Troubles

_Please don't judge me for it!_

Clairvoyance looked blankly at the Pegasus, who after offering his opinion on the matter, immediately cast his eyes away.

She pondered the suggestion for a moment. Yes, she hadn't noticed RedRobin's jaws moving when he had 'said' that. No one else was reacting to that statement either, so she assumed that they couldn't hear it.

 _Welp. Shouldn't have said that. Did I seriously just think 'Welp'? Great, now Claire-_

"Er, sorry," RedRobin spoke up, green eyes briefly flickering to Clairvoyance before his gaze returned to his feet. _Hope she doesn't mind being called by her nickname by a complete stranger._

Clairvoyance put a paw to her chin. It seemed like apart from those coherent voices that she was picking up on, there were lots more background noise, whispering about things such as the temperature, or the time of day, or feelings.

"I just thought it might be rude, so…" RedRobin sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not the best at talking to strangers." _Will they notice if I casually run off now? Sigh. They will._

 _Awww. Just like me,_ Fern commented silently.

Fern's 'voice' sounded a fainter, because of the distance and having at least four Eeveelutions between her and Clairvoyance. Or maybe because of who she was, she thought quietly too. RedRobin had one of the clearest 'voices' but he was standing directly next to her. She assumed that distance affected volume of sound.

"You know, RedRobin, I think you may be right," Clairvoyance finally concluded. There was simply no other explanation.

Eight different versions of ' _Yay! Now we can go!'_ chorused in Clairvoyance's mind with varying degrees of irritability. Nightlight in particular was complaining about how he was 'nocturnal' while Flare was growling and thumping one hind paw.

Rani noticed this as well. She didn't need telepathy to tell her who was getting impatient. "Okay, okay, you guys, we're moving off now. Don't get yourself so worked up."

"Hey, Red-dude! Whereee are we goinggg?" Flash sang. "Do you like my song? Do ya? Do ya?" _Red-samaaa~_

"Arceus, Flash, shut up!" Flare snapped. _Flash, that idiot._ "Your voice is annoying! Just who in their right mind would like this sort of thing?"

"Uh..." RedRobin looked from Flare to Flash, unsure of how to react. Eventually, he just chose to ignore Flare altogether. "To where us pegasi live. It's a city called Itgait. It's just north of here. I'll show you guys." He hesitated, looking at Flash before walking in front till he was beside Rani. _No idea how to deal with him..._

"Reddy, you never answered my question!" Flash yowled from the back.

* * *

Clairvoyance winced, scrunching her eyes shut and flattening her ears against her skull. Arceus, these Pokémon were talking and thinking too loudly. Was there even any way to switch off this new ability of hers? She really wanted it to stop. For now. There was no telling how useful this new ability would be in the future.

"Why are we going so slowly? I could have used up all the PP for my moves in the time we're spending slowly waddling around!"

"Arceus, Nightlight, shut up!"

"How would you like to walk around on your own then?"

"Night's right! We're walking around at a grand total of one mile per five gazillion hours! Maybe we can just go crawl around again like we did before all this random stuff happened!"

"Perhaps he has a point. RedRobin is looking at us with exasperated eyes."

"H-hey, I'm not! You're mistaken! It's fine! This is part of my duty, honest!"

"Oh? Alright, then. I must thank you for giving us directions. Rani is being cold, it seems."

"Sorry! I was so caught up in trying not to fall I forgot all about you, RedRobin!"

"Seriously? Fractal, what right do you have of accusing others of being cold when you're practically winter personified?"

Clairvoyance's eyes widened in realization. Hey, she wasn't hearing any inner voices now! That helped ease her headache. So, she could turn it off at will, huh?

 _Turn on, turn on, turn on…_

 _Claire is being real quiet,_ Shine worried, casting a glance over her shoulder at her sister to check. _Looks alright?_

It worked! Clairvoyance flashed a smile at Shine back to indicate she was feeling fine. Shine looked back at her with a doubtful " _if she's sure"_ before turning back to look at the front. It wouldn't do if she tripped and made everyone topple over like dominoes, after all.

 _Now then, turn off?_ Clairvoyance thought, making it seem more like a question then anything else. Well, this ability was still new, it was freaky, so a certain amount of freaked-out-ness was to be expected.

Clairvoyance strained her ears, pricking them up and flicking them periodically, but no muffled little thoughts came.

 _That's great!_ Clairvoyance thought, smirking and puffed out her chest a little. Stupid Nightlight! That would show him who was 'dumb'! When he had just learned Feint Attack, he somehow still managed to miss his target of wooden blocks. Unbelievable. A record in Dark-type history.

Now, if only there was a way to switch off her normal hearing.

"Can you guys just freaking stop complaining and keep putting one paw in front of the other?"

"Feels kinda weird, really. Why are we doing this again? We're what Claire calls 'quadrupeds'! This ain't natural!"

"But, but, RedRobin-sama said this was the proper way to do it!"

"Uhh, sorry, I didn't know. I've never seen anyone walking around on four legs unless they're below five years old, so I just assumed."

"Wait, what? Seriously. What kinda fucked up universe did we just wind up in?"

"Uhh, sorry? And you guys look like a cat-fox hybrid, which don't crawl around. At all."

"Lolwut. Cat? Fox? Idk."

"Nightlight is imitating Connor's chat-speak."

"Yeah, cool. Anyway, RedRobin, I guess that's why our bodies changed? We're not meant to walk around on two legs in our previous form, but I guess that's why we have a new form."

"Rani...this new form kinda scares me...our limbs are so long…!"

"Oh my Arceus! I thought we lost you five hundred thousand years ago, Fernie! You're so quiet that your own shadow would forget you're there and run away!"

"...but you would notice if I wasn't here, right? Please don't leave me behind!"

"As Nightlight and Connor would say, jkjk!"

Ugh. Clairvoyance leaned her head forward to rest on Shine's shoulder. Still too many voices, though they had been cut down by half.

Shine started a little at the sudden contact, then responded with, "You know, Claire, I really don't think you're fine after all." She used one ribbon to pat her sister on the head, avoiding the red gem on her forehead.

Clairvoyance sighed, opening her eyes. She appreciated the small gesture which sent a soothing feeling through her. "Oh, trust me, Shine. It's only the beginning."


	5. Making Plans

RedRobin didn't know how, but he finally got the siblings to get a move on, despite most of them still being unsteady on two paws. Was it just him, or were they particularly chatty individuals?

"Claire, that mind power is super creepy! Now I'll have no privacy!" Flash complained loudly as he held on to Flare's shoulders and strolled past trees in an unhurried pace.

This was justified, however, RedRobin reasoned. If they couldn't walk that well with two legs, running was surely out of the question. And besides, Fern looked like she was busy admiring every single leaf on the treetops, looking upwards with some sort of wonder in her brown eyes. Occasionally, she would almost trip over some branch or something.

"Fractal, I've never seen trees so tall before!" she commented. Fractal looked upwards in curiosity before nodding.

"You tell us everything anyway, Flash," Shine reminded her brother with a flick of her bowtie. At least, it probably was a bowtie. The closer RedRobin examined it, he realised that the ribbon was not tied on, but rather appeared to be attached to her pale neck.

"Yeah, remember that one time you got all happy about that Magikarp in a bottle? And you told us the exact colour of your pee in the morning? Also, about how you tried tens and thousands of times to reach the door handle but couldn't?" Shine continued, the corners of her lips twitching upwards. It wasn't like Nightlight's smug toothed grin, but a real, kind, warm smile.

"What do you need privacy for, exactly? You gave that up for annoying the crap out of all of us!" Flare lowered her ears and narrowed her eyes.

"Guys, don't be rude," Rani practically pleaded with them. Her eyes were set on maneuvering around some logs on the ground. They were walking on a route which had not been trodden on by many pairs of boots, so there were still a lot of natural obstacles. RedRobin focused on finding the path back home while somewhat tuning in to the siblings' bickering in the background.

"Uh, the bathroom?" Flash shrugged.

"Why would I want to go listen to your thoughts while you're doing your business?" Clairvoyance pointed out. "There would be probably be only stuff like 'This looks gross' and 'Man, it stinks!'"

"Honestly, man, I don't know!" Flash protested as he lifted both arms in surrender, then flapped them wildly as he began to fall.

Without lifting her other hand, Flare pulled Flash's arm over her shoulder again, still glaring ahead. "You owe me one."

"Thanks, Flare! You're my favorite sister!" Flash looped his arms around her waist in a tight hug, only for Flare to elbow him in the ribs and tell him to 'knock it off already'.

"Damn, now I can't prank you anymore," Nightlight sighed in obviously fake sadness. "You can hear all of my plans!"

Clairvoyance's purple eye twitched in annoyance. She wasn't swayed by his act, not at all. "Your pranks are fairly obvious anyway," she snapped back, going so far as to slap his arm. Nightlight took it all in stride however, still giving her that big, wide, _incredibly mocking_ smile.

RedRobin was just wondering if he should have stayed out of the forest that day when finally the city's gray entrance bridge came into sight. He felt like saying something like, "Bye! Have fun!", but he couldn't exactly just leave them there and allow them to wander around on their own! What if they got into (even more) trouble?

Besides, he wasn't going to let them sleep in the streets at night. He had sort of taken them under his wing and he had to provide for their lodging, but his house wasn't big enough. Maybe he could-

He felt a little jolt run through him. RedRobin's wings flapped open involuntarily as he jumped at the sudden sensation. A single yellow paw waved back and forth in front of his eyes.

"Yoo-hoo! Red-dude! You kinda just zoned out for a minute and started gawking at the floor kinda! You okay, pegasus? What's up?" Flash asked, frowning.

RedRobin pressed his palms over his chest, where his heart was located, just to make sure he wasn't experiencing abnormal heart rhythms or anything. Once he was certain he wasn't suddenly going to collapse from heart stoppage, he switched to his 'issuing orders mode' and gave Flash a rather stern look.

"Flash, that was pretty dangerous. Please don't do that again. If the shock is strong enough, you may accidentally kill someone. The pegasi will drive you and your siblings out and you'll pretty much be marked as a threat from then onwards. Even if it was accidental, not many would trust you."

As he spoke, Flash's eyes grew wider and wider until RedRobin was fairly sure he could have stuffed some hay in those black depths.

"What? Nooo! That's horrible! I'm sorry! Don't die!" Without warning, Flash flung himself at RedRobin's legs, hugged him close, and started bawling. For a moment, a fleeting thought passed through RedRobin's mind that Flash's tears closely resembled decorative fountains.

RedRobin hesitantly patted Flash's tuft of fur that was sticking out, before looking up and addressing the rest of his audience. "I was thinking that you would have to stay in an inn temporarily, maybe. Where I live isn't big enough for you all. I can give you some Kana, but I can't keep paying for all of your costs. You'll have to find a job to get more."

"The...inn?" Rani cocked her head quizzically. The word appeared to taste unfamiliar on her tongue.

"Inns? Aren't those like lodging things like hotels?" Flare wondered. "Yeah, Claire, you've heard of those, am I right?"

"Duh!" Flash looked up from where he was kneeling at, still rendering RedRobin incapable of movement with his vice-like grip. "Claire knows, like, _everything_!" He gestured with one paw, waving it around him, as though to emphasise that Clairvoyance's knowledge banks were as dense and thick as the foliage around them. Coupled with the fact that she was a telepath, RedRobin did not think this was too far beyond the truth.

Instead of doubting whatever Flash had just thrown at him, he asked, "Uhm, Flash? Can you let go of my legs? I think you're starting to cut off my circulation," RedRobin added quickly, just in case the excitable fox-like creature insisted on hanging there like some sort of magical glue.

"Wah! Okay! Sorry, sorry!" Flash quickly jumped off him, his yellow fur bristling a little and looking even more spiked out. He definitely wanted to avoid causing casualties, RedRobin noticed. He had to admit, he felt a little proud of himself: no matter how many times he had told Tawny to cut out his bad habits, the little guy had never seemed to get the message. All RedRobin got for his efforts was a sing-song "I know, _chii~_! Stop worrying already!" and an good-natured eye roll.

 _Little brothers_ , a voice sounded in his head, a voice that was foreign and did not sound like his regular voice at all.

Slightly creeped out, he turned towards the most likely culprit with a questioning glance. Clairvoyance must have gotten the message, as her eyes widened and she pointed to herself in a silent gesture. Following RedRobin's affirmative nod, she stared at the grass for a while before starting to pace back and forth. Rani watched her sister walk in slow circles around her, a little frown on her face. Flash managed to snap out of his overdramatic depressed mood long enough to ask questions. "Hey, lil' sis, what's going on?"

Clairvoyance hesitated before sighing, "It seems the more I think about turning the telepathy off, the more thoughts I have about turning it back on. And now, I can even 'talk' in RedRobin's head. This is getting weird."

"Why is this happening anyway, though? So far there has been absolutely no reason for you to randomly become a freakish Espeon!" Flare commented. "I mean, maybe other Psychic-types have it, but the most for your species is predicting the weather, right? Damn, this is weird!"

Flare had brought up a pretty good point, but judging from the way Clairvoyance returned her gaze with a glare he had only ever seen her use on Nightlight, RedRobin decided that Flare ought to have phrased her sentence more eloquently.

Flare picked it up too. For a moment it seemed as though she were about to argue, before she heaved a deep breath, clenched her paws into a fist and closed her eyes. "Fine. I'm sorry. It just slipped out, I swear."

Everyone looked very surprised indeed. The quiet Fractal actually had a different expression other than 'bored' for once. RedRobin had only just realised how big and blue her eyes were, as 99% of the time, they were half-lidded. This moment was short-lived however, since as soon as initial shock of Flare apologising was over, she rearranged her features back into her trademark calm face.

"...what?" Flare growled before crossing her arms and staring at the ground.

"Nothing, nothing! That was great, Flare!" Rani hurried to soothe her sister, to which she was met with a mumbled "Save your breath."

"Okay, okay! It's alright, Flare, really!" Clairvoyance hoped to distract them, changing the subject hastily. "I don't know why this is happening, so sad to say, I can't answer your questions."

"Awww!" Flash looked at Clairvoyance with puppy-dog eyes. "But you know everything!"

"It's nice that you think of me that way, Flash, but no one knows everything," Clairvoyance sighed.

"Nope, it's just you, 'cause you suck! LOL! Eleven! One!" Nightlight cackled as he strolled right past RedRobin, his tail swaying this way and that.

Flash looked after Nightlight's receding figure with a comparatively serious expression. In fact, one could even say he looked...mildly annoyed. "Of course you know lots of things, Claire. Such as that Nightlight is a big, mean, jerk!"

Clairvoyance gritted her teeth and attempted to run after Nightlight, only to trip and fall over her own booted paws and land in a bristling heap near RedRobin. Her forked tail swished back and forth, her ears were flattened against her skull, and normally violet eyes were glowing an eerie blue. She hissed in anger while trying to pull herself up, before giving up when the most she could manage without support was a kneel.

RedRobin helped her up, giving her an understanding smile. "Oh, little brothers. You know about mine, too, don't you? Don't we hate them? If you like, I can give you a tutorial on how to skewer him alive." He hid his grin behind one dark gray hand. "But first, running."

Clairvoyance dusted herself off, shooting metaphorical arrows with her eyes in the general direction of Nightlight before looking back to RedRobin with mischief in her gaze. A devilish grin slowly spread across her jaw. "Yes, please. I think I'll like that."


	6. On the Path

RedRobin let his guests follow him throughout his journey through the town; he thought it amusing that they seemed almost childishly delighted by every new smell or sight. Of course, since now it was almost night and the sun was setting, there were few citizens out and about. There weren't just pegasi, the city's main species, but there were other types of citizens out and about; for example, they had just passed a smartly dressed cat with golden eyes and a black pelt.

"Red-sama!" Flash all but begged. "What are thoooosee?"

Rani, who was still in front of all of them, looked in the direction Flash was pointing. "I think that's what Connor described to us, remember? He described those as 'Poké Marts', right?"

"I don't know, but this doesn't seem like one of those marts to me," Clairvoyance commented. "It looks like almost everything is sold here, not just potions, Pokéballs like ours, or letters. Who knows, maybe they sell berries here!"

RedRobin looked at what the two were discussing. A middle-aged pegasus with a white coat and a neatly tied gray mane was in the process of selling some snacks. Carrots, hay, and other stuff. Pretty normal, but from the way the two of them were speaking he wasn't sure if they had even seen a vegetable in their life.

"Alright! Let's go buy some, then!" Shine suggested.

RedRobin shook his head. "Sorry to disappoint you, guys. I was just patrolling the area, sorta, when I met you. I didn't bring any spare change with me. It never occurred to me that I might end up buying some food for you."

"Whaaaaa? No berries? Aww, man!" Flash allowed his head to suddenly drop down on Flare's shoulder. "This. Is. A disaster!"

Flare burned him again with one hand without batting an eye. "Snap out of it, man."

He felt a little bad for it, but he really hoped that he didn't meet anyone he knew. This was...more than a little embarrassing, to be leading what seemed to be a whole bunch of new strangers doing some kind of dance on the streets. Not to mention that they were all but multicoloured, and this fact alone netted them lots of stares from curious onlookers. Oh yes, and did he mention Flash's love of grand theatrical gestures?

Actually, his friends would be one to talk if they said anything. They were as kooky and colourful as these eight siblings.

RedRobin hoped that Clairvoyance didn't pick up on what was going through his mind: this really was no way to treat confused rainbow magic fox-cats or whatever they were that had landed in the forest without an inkling of what was going on. Besides, they weren't all bad. Just… He felt himself frown. Nightlight.

He had no idea where the dark-furred creature had gone, and frankly, he was pretty sure Nightlight's own family were hoping he had tripped over something.

Or a lot of somethings.

No, he shouldn't assume. Maybe he just liked being alone. His brothers and sisters couldn't be that cruel, after all. Nightlight was bound to return sooner or later, anyway. He couldn't last very long in a city without any money to buy food or even provide basic lodging.

RedRobin let himself check over his shoulder, and tried to look towards Clairvoyance, wedged somewhere in the middle. Of what he could tell from his unclear vision, she didn't look annoyed, and he could only hope that whatever was in his mind hadn't spoiled her impression of him. Maybe the amount of matter between her and himself could prevent any thoughts from transferring clearly, since she wasn't really reacting.

"You know, Flash, ordinarily I would slap you right in the face, but you're actually right for once," Flare finally conceded. First, it had looked like she wanted to whip her tail at him again, then raised one paw, before lowering it again. Finally, she decided to stick with old-fashioned verbal rebukes.

"The last meal we caught was thin as hell, and I'd really love to chow down on some food. So, Red, any recommendations?" Flare looked pointedly at RedRobin, and he swallowed a tad nervously. "And, no. Do not recommend those things, whatever they are. Most of us here eat meat, unlike what Flash here seems to think."

"I thought maybe if she sold veggies, maybe she would sell berries too! I mean, they rhyme right? And berries grow on trees which are kinda like veggies but harder, older and browner. Right?" Flash flicked his ears hopefully. "Hey , I'm right! Right, Claire?"

"Trees and other veggies that you describe are all plants, Flash. Yes. You are correct." Clairvoyance answered. "I'm hungry too, actually. I think Fern is the only one here whose stomach isn't growling, courtesy of her photosynthesis."

"Woo!" Flash threw his arms into the air, forgetting quite completely that he was in the middle of a semi-large crowd and ignoring what else Clairvoyance had said. If it weren't for Flare's timely reaction, using one paw to restrict Flash's flailing arms, some unlucky citizen could have ended up with a nosebleed today.

"Flash, please!" Rani reminded him from where she was. Although, over the murmurs of other pegasi, and in addition to Flash being at the back, she had to raise her voice. "We're in a crowd! Please behave!"

"You gotcha! I'll be the most well behaved Jolteon there ever was, ever!" Flash nodded his head.

"Yes. Right. Well…" RedRobin spun around to face them. "You're hungry, right?" Ignoring Flare's "Duh!", he pointed to the north.

"I think my mom will be delighted to have you over, honestly. Oh, don't worry. She's friendly. She won't kick you out just because you are of...undetermined species." RedRobin finally gave in to his curiosity, and besides, he couldn't keep calling them by what he assumed they were either. While he started walking to his home, he aimed all his questions towards Rani, who was still following, though at a slightly faster pace now that she had gained more confidence. There weren't many civilians here now, just those who were walking back home after a long day or naughty colts and fillies coming out past bedtime. RedRobin considered telling them off before deciding that it was none of his business.

"Sorry! I shouldn't have said that, Rani! Not to be rude, but I really don't know what you are…" RedRobin cast a glance over his shoulder, realised that he was looking at his own bow slung over his back, and looked over his left. Well then.

Rani, much to his relief, didn't say anything, and she didn't look like she was thinking, "Man, what a dork." So far, so good. She just kept putting one paw in front of her other, thinking quietly to herself. Her dark eyes looked upwards as she pondered. The chatty voices of her other siblings didn't seem to disturb her.

"Huh, you mean you don't have any of us around here?" Rani seemed to have come to a conclusion. "Not even the most common Pokémon?"

"Poke-ee-mon?" RedRobin tried pronouncing it. It felt unfamiliar on his tongue. He murmured the new word to himself a few times before uttering, "What's that?"

"Well, we are Pokémon." Rani pointed to herself. Rather unsuccessfully as that gesture almost caused Shine behind her to lose her balance. Rani's eyes widened and she paused for a while, saying, "Shine! Sorry! Sorry!"

"It's okay, Rani," Shine murmured. "Yes, go on. RedRobin looks confused."

"Shine, you're alright, right? Okay then. So your species is 'Pokémon'?" RedRobin cocked his head to the side.

"Uhh, no. We are species of Pokémon. Pokémon is a collective term for all of us creatures...that don't exist here." Rani sighed and looked downcast. Was she homesick?

"Tell me about the Pokémon of your universe," RedRobin persuaded, hoping to cheer her up. He wondered if he was intruding, but his curiosity was peaked, and anyway, Rani looked happy to share.

"Umm, well, Claire tells me that there are at least 700 different Pokémon. I didn't know that! Imagine that! My family and I, just eight of the vast species and types of Pokémon!" Rani made a grand gesture, perhaps trying to aid RedRobin's imagination.

"Oh, yes. Interesting. What are you, though? Flash said he was a...Volt-ion, or something." RedRobin looked around his surroundings as he tried to recall what exactly Flash had said he was.

"Oh, he's a Jolteon. He has the power of lightning and electricity. An 'Electric-type', if you will. I guess all that pent-up static has made him really excitable," she chuckled. "He's older than me, but you'd never know it by the way he acts!"

"Hey! I take offence to that, sista! Meanie!" Flash called out from the back.

"Yes, yes, mean. I'm always mean," Rani said good-naturedly. A smile tugged at the corner of her jaws.

"What about you, and the rest, then?" RedRobin asked. This probably was a major invasion of privacy, especially to a bunch of strangers he had just met, but curiosity made him persevere. Besides, it wasn't every day that creatures from a whole nother world landed in your local forest.

"Me? I'm a Vaporeon. I'm a creature of water, really." RedRobin suddenly felt something incredibly cold splash onto him. He started, and whipped around to face Rani, digits splayed open with some water droplets still left on them, and eyes shining mysteriously in the darkness. "Sorry, but was that joke a little too much?"

"No. It was fine." With sudden newfound courage, he quickly poked Rani in her side and withdrew his arm, smiling a bit too innocently.

Rani flinched slightly, but still had a smile on her face. "Ah, I see. So we're even."

Rani soon went back into deciding how best to describe the concepts of her world to RedRobin, however, and honestly, he had been expecting it. It wasn't like she would engage in a poke and splash war with a total stranger.

"Shine is a Sylveon. Her ribbons are actually part of her body. Look closely, and you'll realise that those ribbons aren't tied on so much as grown on her neck." Knowing this time what would happen if she pointed, Rani opted for a simple head nod behind her.

"Rani, Rain. You're making this sound creepy, as though I have a parasite growing on my neck or something!" Shine joked. "Ack! It must be removed before it completely takes over my body, and makes me into the undead, or something!"

"Man, did you and Flash swap places or what?"

RedRobin halted in his steps, jumping a little. Oh, now he was back.

Nightlight's red eyes and yellow rings lit up the darkness surrounding him, confirming that yes, they really had glowed in the forest just now. Unlike the rest of his family, they truly seemed to light up on their own in the dark, whereas the rest had eyes that reflected the moon-shine. His fangs glinted in the moonlight as he flopped down onto the path. "Been explorin'."

His family clearly wasn't expecting him to randomly pop out of nowhere, as most of them had their fur puffed out and eyes wide with shock. RedRobin couldn't blame them either; in the night, Nightlight all but blended in with his surroundings with his dark pelt and clothing, save for his glowing body parts. Well, except for Fractal, who just looked slightly displeased.

"Hi, Nightlight. Welcome back. What adventures did you have this time?" Rani was the first to recover. From her conversational tone, RedRobin guessed that Nightlight liked randomly disappearing and appearing and that it was quite a regular occurrence.

"Like, nothing. This place is boring." Nightlight rolled his eyes. His dark pupils contrasted very obviously with the blood-red irises. Damn, he was creepy. Was he possessed by anything? But he couldn't just go asking Nightlight if he was a demon, possessed or not. That was just plain impolite. Also, he feared he would anger him and get eaten or something.

 _RedRobin, it's fine. That's just a characteristic of all members of his species._

RedRobin stood at alert, looking this way and that, before he finally figured out that it was Claire speaking in his mind again. Oh wait, that meant that she probably had heard him overreacting internally. Whoops. Well, guess he couldn't really keep secrets around a mind reader. He really ought to just give up.

"Well, you can rejoin us! I was just telling RedRobin here about what we are." At this, Rani turned around to face him. "RedRobin, Nightlight here is an Umbreon." She gestured towards Nightlight, who did not look very happy to be treated as some sort of thing to be explained. RedRobin nervously waved towards him, hoping that this (normally) friendly gesture would help alleviate some of Nightlight's apparent hostility.

Nightlight's ears twitched slightly in surprise. "Um, hi," he said cautiously, arms still folded. Hey, look at that. They may have walked on four legs before, but they somehow managed to pick up on two-legged body language fast enough.

RedRobin wasn't sure if Nightlight had really just talked to him because he wanted to, or out of an obligation to respond to his wave, since Nightlight just went back to glancing at Rani in annoyance.

"Yeah, okay." Rani averted her eye and tried her best not to look at Nightlight. Maybe it was a literal poisonous gaze. Who knew what these 'Pokémon' could do. Or maybe, from the looks or her too-wide grin and her eyes flittering about, she just was feeling sheepish that she might not have considered the feelings of Nightlight.

"Okay, so he's a Dark-type-"

"Pretty cool, right?" Nightlight cut Rani off and winked at RedRobin.

"...yes?" He had no idea what he was supposed to say in this situation, but he figured that being nice was always a good start to, for example, not get eaten.

"Frankly, Nightlight, you're the only Umbreon we all know that isn't totally stoic or mysterious or anything. What do you think?" RedRobin cast his eyes over to the speaker: Flare. She had conjured up a small flame in one paw to light the way; it glowed gently orange in the night. It illuminated Flare's features, making her fur seem all the more vibrantly alight.

Nightlight shrugged. "Nah, they just couldn't be bothered to be like me! That means I'm special!"

"Keep telling yourself that, bro." Flare rolled her eyes and did a dramatic sigh.

When Rani saw that both siblings were glowering at each other, she hastily thrust her way in between them, proclaiming, "Okay, okay! That's enough for now! RedRobin here is taking us to his house, so we'll get to rest and eat soon, alright?"

"Yeah, kay, whatever." Nightlight got up and stalked off. Somewhere.

"Nightlight! Come back! That's the wrong way! You're not supposed to go off this path!" RedRobin tried calling after the receding Umbreon, to no avail. His shoulders slumped in defeat. "I guess he's not one for conversation?"

"Aw, don't worry, big guy." Flare looked at RedRobin, her eyebrows slanting down and a sad expression in her face for once. He felt her place one (thankfully unlit) paw on his shoulders before casting her gaze after her brother with a sigh. "Nightlight's always like that."


End file.
